


Parents Day

by Dragonsrule18



Series: Hopes, Dreams, And DETERMINATION [4]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Big Sisters, Child Neglect, Cute Kids, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Family Issues, Frisk is an awesome big sister, Frisk is practically Tina's mother, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, POV Outsider, Pre-Undertale, Pre-Undertale Pacifist Route, Sad, Teacher-Student Relationship, Tina is adorable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:41:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28791150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonsrule18/pseuds/Dragonsrule18
Summary: Prequel oneshot set in the HDAD universe, showing a snapshot of Frisk and her little sister Tina's lives before Mt. Ebott. It's Parents Day at Ebott Elementary, and when little Tina's big sister comes to get her instead of her parents(again), Tina's first grade teacher Miss Brown suspects there might be something truly wrong at the girls' home. Outsider POV.
Relationships: Frisk & Tina(her little sister)
Series: Hopes, Dreams, And DETERMINATION [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1959127
Comments: 18
Kudos: 15





	Parents Day

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you readers of Hopes, Dreams, and DETERMINATION will enjoy this little side story! It's another snapshot from Frisk and her little sister Tina's lives before Frisk fell into the Underground, set in the point of view of Tina's first grade teacher, one of the very few to realize something was wrong at the girls' home.
> 
> While Frisk and Tina's parents aren't abusive, they are highly neglectful and use drugs as well as somewhat emotionally abusive, and their treatment can be seen in both the girls' physical condition and attitudes if someone looks hard enough. Unfortunately, many did not.
> 
> For J-Farraday, whose help and encouragement made this story possible! Be sure to check out her works, guys! She's an amazing writer!

It was Parents Day at Ebott Elementary and Miss Brown, a young teacher with wavy blonde hair and green eyes wearing a pretty floral top and silver drop earrings, looked over her first grade class. Her students were happily sitting with their parents or guardians, showing them the projects they were working on and telling them about everything they liked(or didn't like in some cases) about first grade.

All except for one child.

Little Tina Adams, one of her best students, sat at her desk busily working on the salt dough heart ornament that was one of their class Christmas projects, small and alone with no parents beside her.

Worried, Miss Brown walked up to her, noting what the little girl was so carefully painting on her ornament. It was a little portrait of herself and another, older girl with short brown hair, brown dots for eyes, and a pink and blue shirt who she immediately recognized as Tina's big sister, Frisk considering all the other drawings Tina had done of her and the glimpses she had caught of the older girl when she waited outside for her little sister after school.

"That's beautiful, Tina." she told her warmly.

Tina paused in her painting, pushing the sleeves of her worn out pink sweater up further and brushing a strand of long brown hair that had escaped her pigtails back as she smiled happily up at her teacher. "Thank you! I'm making it for Frisk! On Christmas morning, I'm going to wake up extra early and hang it on her side of the bed so it's the first thing she sees when she wakes up."

Miss Brown's heart ached at the realization of the fact that the two girls clearly had to share one bed, but not wanting to upset Tina, she managed a soft smile. "Well, I know she's going to love it. It's very pretty and it's clear how hard you worked on it. You did a great job." Tina beamed up at her, her brown eyes shining, showing once again how much she loved praise, and Miss Brown took a deep breath. "So are your parents running late?"

Tina shook her head. "Oh, they're busy. They couldn't make it." she said matter of factly like she was talking about the weather.

"Oh, that's a shame." was all Miss Brown could think to say.

Tina shrugged her thin shoulders like it didn't matter, but Miss Brown could see some sadness in her face that for just a second looked far older than a child her age should. "It's okay." She turned back to her ornament. "Hey, you think I should use the blue glitter on the edges or all over? Frisk loves blue glitter."

Miss Brown's heart ached more but she forced a smile. "I think around the edges would be prettiest so it doesn't block the drawing you made." Tina nodded with a smile and carefully made a line of glue around the very edges of the heart. Miss Brown tried to figure out how to ask Tina if everything was truly okay. "Tina, are you...?"

The sound of a kid yelping cut her off right there and she turned to see that a kid had accidentally squirted their neighbor with glue, as evidenced by the kid's frantic apologizing and the other's now very sticky hair. Miss Brown gave Tina an apologetic look and hurried over to help the children's parents with comforting both kids and cleaning up the mess, having to put her star student's plight aside for now.

...

Miss Brown was kept busy the rest of the day with going over grades with the parents of her students as well as keeping track of a classroom of first graders, but little Tina still nagged at the back of her mind every time she had a free second to think. The little girl kept busy with first finishing her project, then her homework, then drawing what looked to be a little comic of a spotted dog and a striped kitty, but Miss Brown caught her stealing longing glances a few times at the other kids with their parents.

At the end of the day, the other students filed out with their parents. Miss Brown watched as Tina went to the window and saw the little girl's eyes light up at the sight of the very familiar figure of her teenage sister, who was waiting outside the school for her like always.

Miss Brown realized something, and she kicked herself for not noticing sooner. It was always Frisk there to greet Tina with a big hug and a hair ruffle, never their parents. Always Frisk who Tina spoke about, or wrote about, or drew for. The little girl barely even mentioned her parents.

It made her recall their first art project the first week in school where the students were asked to draw their families. She remembered how Tina had very carefully drawn herself and Frisk, then seemed to notice the other kids were drawing their parents and added hers as what seemed to be more of an afterthought. The parents were drawn much more messily and hurriedly, without the care the little girl reserved for drawing her big sister, and they had been spaced away from Frisk and Tina.

But before she could think on this further, Tina, having put on her coat and grabbed her things, happily ran out the door, nearly tackling her sister with a huge hug. Miss Brown watched from the doorway as Frisk grinned and hugged her sister back, ruffling her hair before admiring the drawing Tina was now showing her with just as much pride as any parent.

Tina then looked back at the classroom, catching Miss Brown's eye. The little one's eyes lit up and she smiled, hurrying over to Miss Brown while practically dragging her big sister by the hand. It was the first time she had ever seen Frisk up close, and the teacher noticed with a pain in her soul the older girl's ragged coat, and how it draped over a frame that was much too thin. How bony the wrists that stuck out of sleeves far too long for her were, and how she didn't even have gloves. How her face was slightly sunken under raggedly cut short brown hair, and how her brown eyes looked far too old and too tired for a girl so young.

Tina was oblivious to her teacher's worry. "Frisk, this is my teacher, Miss Brown! Miss Brown, this is my big sister Frisk!"

Frisk smiled politely, though her eyes were wary. "It's nice to meet you."

Miss Brown smiled, trying to ease the teenager's discomfort. "It's very nice to meet you too. Tina has told me so much about you." Frisk seemed to relax a little at the mention of her sister and her eyes softened.

"Miss Brown, since Mommy and Daddy couldn't make it to school today, can Frisk see my grades?" Tina asked pleadingly, giving her teacher the Def-Con One puppy dog eyes little kids were so good at. There was clearly only one right answer.

"Of course."

...

Miss Brown led the girls into her warm office and had them sit down, offering them each a cookie. Tina's eyes lit up, though she turned to her sister as if to ask if it was okay. Frisk had been eying the cookies hungrily, but still seemed to be on her guard and studied Miss Brown for a minute, those brown eyes nearly boring through her soul, before seeming to figure out it was okay and nodding to Tina with a small smile and letting Tina take a cookie before taking one of her own, both girls saying a polite and grateful, "Thank you." Tina nibbled on her cookie, savoring it, and Frisk carefully broke hers in half before sneakily placing half in her bag when she thought Miss Brown wasn't looking, and slowly ate the other half, savoring every bite as well. Tina did seem to notice and tried to give her sister some of her cookie, but Frisk shook her head with a smile.

Miss Brown pulled out Tina's test papers and the projects she had saved to give to their parents with a smile. "Tina is doing incredibly well this semester. She excels at English, science, and art, and works very hard on all of her assignments. She's never missed turning in a single one. She has struggled with math just a bit, but she's been diligently working to get better and her math grade has improved a great deal since the first quarter. And she's very, very helpful around the classroom, and friendly with all her classmates." During this speech, Frisk had relaxed completely and was beaming with the pride of any parent, her eyes alight as she looked over the test scores and Tina's report card. Miss Brown turned to Tina, not wanting to leave her out. "Tina, I'm very proud of you and I'm so glad to have you in my class." Tina beamed so brightly that the sun paled in comparison.

"I'm so proud of you too, sis! You did great!" Frisk told Tina, giving the little girl a big hug which Tina happily returned.

Miss Brown continued to go over Tina's report card and test results with the girls, and Frisk listened very carefully and asked questions, acting more like a parent than a sister, which the teacher couldn't help but notice. Tina too chimed in, showing Frisk her projects and when they left the office, taking her sister around to show around. Frisk was smiling the whole time.

At the end of their meeting, Tina excused herself to go to the little girl's room, and Miss Brown turned to Frisk, pulling out a paper from her desk. "I have something for you." she told the older girl. "A few weeks ago, I asked the children to write about their heroes. Understandably, Tina chose you."

Frisk's eyes widened and she gently took the paper from Miss Brown like a priceless treasure, reading the words written on it.

...

My Hero

By Tina Adams

My hero is Frisk. She's my big sister and she's 15 years old. She's the coolest and best big sister in the whole entire world! She always takes great care of me, and even though she's busy a lot, she always has time to play with me, and she protects me from anything scary just like a superhero. She's a very good cook and makes the yummiest mac and cheese. And not only that, but she's super smart too! She always helps me with my homework and will take me on nature walks and teach me cool stuff about plants and animals. She's really good at building things and made me a pretty dresser for our room, and even let me paint flowers on it! She's also really good at fixing my stuffed puppy Spot when he gets hurt, and makes other hurt toys all better too!

She also is the best at telling bedtime stories and even does voices for all the people! And after that, she tucks me into bed, kisses my head, and tells me that she loves me. And I can sleep all cozy knowing that nothing scary will ever get me because Frisk is there, and she won't let anything ever hurt me.

And that's why Frisk is the best hero of all!

...

Frisk's eyes filled with tears as she read the paper before very carefully tucking it into her bag. Miss Brown placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and felt an ever so slight flinch as the girl turned to her, her eyes once again wary.

"Tina adores you." Miss Brown told her gently. "Do you know you're all she ever talks about? And I can understand why. You're clearly a wonderful young woman, Frisk, and a great big sister." Frisk looked shocked by this, and the teacher sadly wondered if the poor child had ever heard those words from any other adult in her life. She frowned in worry. "Frisk, honey, is anything wrong? Are your parents treating you okay? Do you need any help?"

Frisk immediately stiffened and her eyes went wide. She stared at Miss Brown, and for just a split second, she looked vulnerable and longing, and Miss Brown hoped she would talk. But then there was a flash of fear in her eyes and she could see the walls immediately go up. The teenager's body posture turned tense, though she forced a smile. "Don't worry. We're fine."

Miss Brown frowned again. "Are you sure?"

There was another split second of hesitation, but then Frisk simply answered, "Yes."

The teacher was about to try to ask further questions, but then Tina reappeared, smiling. "I'm ready, Frisk!"

Frisk smiled to her little sister, slightly more real this time. "All right. Let's go." She ruffled Tina's hair, then took the little girl's hand before turning to Miss Brown. "Thank you for letting me see her grades." she said with a polite smile.

"Yeah, thank you!" Tina said happily.

Miss Brown wanted to ask them to stay. To tell her the truth about whatever was going on at home. She wanted to tell them she'd help them. She wanted to make everything all right. But they were already leaving, and all that could come out was, "You're welcome."

They headed out and she watched as they went down the sidewalk. Watched until the two girls disappeared into the distance. Only then did she sit at her desk, bury her face in her arms and cry.

**Author's Note:**

> Miss Brown did file a report later about the girls' condition, but sadly nothing was ever done due to "lack of evidence."
> 
> The reason Frisk refused to say anything about their treatment, and Tina too, was that their parents had them both convinced that if CPS or the police were ever called, Frisk and Tina would be separated and placed into far worse homes than the one they were already in. And while the parents weren't physically abusive, they would still act frightening when high, and Frisk had the fear that if she got them in trouble with the police and CPS that their parents, or their drug addicted and much scarier friends, would act violently towards Tina. Frisk also has somewhat of a distrust in authority figures, including teachers as many of her own teachers weren't very kind to her, so she may have feared that Miss Brown would have some sort of hidden motive or use the information to hurt her.
> 
> Thankfully Frisk and Tina now have a new and very loving family in the monsters and they won't have to fear these things any more. :)


End file.
